June 23, 2012 at
8:32 AM

6/23 Cup of Coffee: The DSL Red Sox had a monster second inning, scoring seven runs to help propel them to a win. Meanwhile, the PawSox lost in extra innings at home, and Salem dropped a pair of games on the road. Lowell and the GCL Red Sox both picked up wins at home.

The Louisville Bats (CIN) took a 4-3 extra-inning win over Pawtucket at McCoy Stadium. Brandon Duckworth got the start for the PawSox and gave up a run in the first to give the Bats an early lead. The Bats picked up another tally in the third inning with a home run. Duckworth stayed in the game through the fifth inning, having pitched 5.0 innings with four hits, two runs, and two walks. He was replaced by Jeremy Kehrt, who pitched a perfect sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Jason Repko singled to reach base, followed by a Ryan Lavarnway double that drove Repko in. Alex Hassan then blasted a homer to left field, scoring himself and Lavarnway. With pitcher Daniel Bard on the mound in the top of the seventh, the Bats put up another run to tie the game. Bard pitched one inning with two hits, one run, and no walks and was credited with a blown save. Tony Pena took the mound in the top of the eighth and pitched 3.0 scoreless innings with just one hit and one walk. Pena was replaced in the eleventh inning by Will Inman who helped the PawSox hold the tie until the 13th inning when he let up a run. In total, Inman pitched 3.0 innings with three hits, one run, and no walks. Pawtucket and Louisville each had 10 hits on the night, J.C. Linares led the PawSox with four.

The Salem Red Sox dropped both sides of a doubleheader against the Lynchburg Hillcats (OAK). Game one went into extra innings, with the Hillcats coming out on top, 4-3. The Red Sox put up the first runs of the game in the top of the third inning. Lucas LeBlanc reached base on a single, followed by a Shannon Wilkerson triple that drove LeBlanc in. Heiker Meneses flew out, but drove in Wilkerson. Salem starter Keith Couch kept the Hillcats scoreless through four innings, but gave up two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Couch reappeared for the sixth inning but was taken out with two out and one on and was replaced by Michael Olmsted. Couch pitched 5.2 innings with five hits, two runs, and three walks. A Brandon Jacobs home run in the top of the sixth gave the Red Sox another run. Olmsted reappeared for Salem in the bottom of the seventh, and gave up a run. He pitched 1.1 innings with two hits, one run, and no walks. Jason Repko took the mound in the bottom of the eighth and didn't give up a run until the eleventh inning, Where Lynchburg picked up another run for the win. The Red Sox had six total hits in the contest, two of them belonging to Wilkerson.

In game two, the Hillcats no-hit the Red Sox, winning 3-0. Scott Swinson got the start for Salem and had the Hillcats scoreless in the first two innings, but gave up a run in the bottom of the third. This was followed by a home run in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Hillcats another run. In the bottom of the fifth, Swinson was replaced with one out and one on by Ryan Pressly. In total, Swinson pitched 4.1 innings with four hits, three runs, and two walks. With Pressly on the mound in the bottom of the fifth, Swinson's third run crossed the plate, giving the Hillcats a 3-0 lead. Pressly came back out in the bottom of the sixth, where he held Lynchburg scoreless. Pressly pitched 1.2 innings with no hits, no runs, and no walks.

Greenville came out on top against the Charleston RiverDogs (NYY) and increased their win streak to four games in a 7-3 win at Fluor Field. Greenville had a run in each of the first four innings to take the lead early on. In the first, Jose Garcia reached base when he was hit by a pitch, stole second base, advance to third on a Keury De La Cruz single, and scored when Garin Cecchini grounded out. In the second inning, Henry Ramos doubled to lead off the inning, followed by a Cody Koback single that advanced him to third and scored on a sacrifice fly from Garcia. In the bottom of the third, David Renfroe reached on a walk and was driven in on a Drew Turocy double. In the fourth, Blake Swihart singled, followed by a Bryan Johns single that advanced Swihart to third, and a De La Cruz single that drove Swihart in. The RiverDogs picked up their first run in the top of the fifth against Drive starter Jason Garcia. Garcia picked up his second win of the season, going 5.0 innings with six hits, one run, and one walk. Yeiper Castillo took the mound in the top of the sixth. In the bottom half of that inning, the Drive put up two runs when Boss Moanaroa doubled to drive in Johns and Cecchini. Castillo gave up a run in both the seventh and eighth innings but still had a decent outing. He pitched 4.0 innings with six hits, two runs, and two walks. The Drive batters combined for 13 hits on the night, De La Cruz, Cecchini, Turocy, Koback, and Swihart with a pair each.

The Spinners returned to Lowell and thwarted a ninth-inning rally from the Vermont Lake Monsters (OAK) to win 5-3. Lowell starter William Cuevas had a great first start, pitching 4.0 scoreless innings, with three hits and two walks. The Spinners put up their first run in the bottom of the first when Aneury Tavarez homered. They picked up another run in the bottom of the second when Williams Jerez doubled and was then driven in on a Tim Roberson single. Lowell picked up two more runs in the bottom of the third when David Chester blasted a home run, scoring himself and Jose Iglesias who had reached base on a single. The Spinners picked up their last run in the bottom of the fourth when Tavarez reached base on a single, stole second, and scored on a Kendrick Perkins single. Leandro Marin took the mound for Lowell in the top of the fifth and kept the Lake Monsters scoreless for 2.0 innings while allowing one hit and one walk. Marin, who was credited with the win, was replaced in the top of the seventh by Yunior Ortega who pitched 3.0 innings, and gave up three runs to the Lakemonsters in the top of the ninth. Despite the three late runs, Ortega was able to get out of the inning to end the game with a Spinners win. Ortega pitched 3.0 innings with five hits, thre runs, and no walks. The Spinners had 12 hits in the game and Tavarez led the team with three.

In an abbreviated game, the GCL Red Sox took on the GCL Twins and won, 4-3. The Twins drew first blood, putting up two runs against Red Sox pitcher Johnathan Aro in the top of the second. The Twins picked up another run in the third. Aro pitched 4.0 innings with eight hits, three runs, and no walks. He was replaced in the top of the fifth by Carlos Pinales, who pitched 3.0 scoreless innings with just one hit and no walks before the game was called after the top of the seventh. Pinales was awarded the win. The Red Sox picked up their first runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth when Miguel Rodriguez reached base on a walk, advanced to third on a Ynoel Aguero double, and they both scored on a Jeremias Pineda single. In the bottom of the sixth, Cleuluis Rondon doubled, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Deiner Lopez that drove in Rondon. Lopez reached second on a Twins throwing error. Jake Davies drew a walk and Lopez stole third, followed by Kevin Mager grounding out but driving in Lopez. The Red Sox were out-hit by the Twins 9-5 in the contest.

A seven-run second inning helped to propel the DSL Red Sox to a 10-6 victory over the DSL Pirates1. In the bottom of the second, Roberto Duncan reached base when he was hit by a pitch. During the next at bat, Duncan stole second base and scored when Ricardo Andujar singled. Andujar advanced to second on a fielding error, and went to third when Raymel Flores grounded out. Manuel Margot reached base and Andujar scored on a fielding error, followed by a home run from Robert Del Rosario to score himself and Margot. Alixon Suarez reached base on a double, and Aneudis Peralta was hit by a pitch. After a pitcher change, Osvaldo Almengo drew a walk to load the bases and Luis Valenzuela tripled to score Suarez, Peralta, and Almengo. The Pirates answered with three runs in the top of the third against Red Sox starter Edwar Garcia. Garcia was taken out of the game after the third and pitched 3.0 innings with two hits, three runs, two errors, and one walk. He was replaced in the top of the fourth by Jervis Torrealba who was credited with the win and pitched 4.0 scoreless innings with two hits and no walks. The Red Sox loaded up the bases in the bottom of the sixth when Del Rosario singled, Suarez was hit by a pitch, and Peralta drew a walk. Almengo then grounded into a force out, but drove in Del Rosario. Wildyn Florian took the mound for the Red Sox in the top of the eighth, but didn't get into trouble until the ninth when he let in a run and was replaced with two on and no outs by Leonel Vazquez. Vazquez let in two more of Florian's runs, but got out of the inning after that. Florian pitched 1.0 inning, allowing no hits, three runs, and one walk. Vazquez pitched 1.0 inning, allowing one hit, no runs, and one walk. In the bottom of the eighth, Del Rosario and Suarez both singled to each base, and Del Rosario advanced to third on afielding error. Peralta then grounded out but scored Del Rosario and Suarez. In total, the Red Sox had nine hits in the game, four of them belonging to Del Rosario.

Player of the Night: Robert Del Rosario went 4-for-5 with a home run and two RBI, accounting for five of the runs in the DSL Red Sox' 10-6 win.